Based in Hamburg, Germany, Adolph Friedländer (1851–1904) produced lush posters for circus entrepreneurs, showmen, performers and variety artists on his lithograph press.

The drafts for the posters were created by draftsmen employed by Friedländer who, based on photographs, portraits or old program slips submitted by the client, converted the respective exhibitions into lively picture scenes and selected a suitable typography. The print shop achieved print runs of up to 3,000 pieces per motif. Because of the high quality of artistic and technical implementation, the company became a leading company in this advertising industry. By the time the Jewish-owned company was forced to close by the Nazi rulers in 1935, around 9,000 drafts had been converted into posters. - - Munich City Museum